Right off the bat, I gotta say that reading Sealed with a KISS took a lot longer than I expected. It didn't help my cause by also starting up and finishing Joe Perry's book at the same time, which made getting through Sealed with a KISS even longer. As for Sealed, a lot has been made by KISS fans as being THE definitive book to get if you are looking for rare, never before published photos of the band in and out of makeup. There are fans that have actually said that Sealed is even better than Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley's own KISSTORY book. That alone made getting this book a priority of mine. It took awhile for me to lock down getting a First Printing of Sealed in Mint/Near Mint condition and at a price that wouldn't break the bank. I manage to do just that. So, after all this time, was it worth the effort to get the book? Yeah, I'm very happy with the end result and it's a keeper. But the book is not without its faults and that's just based on the interior construction of the page layouts and not the contents. There are a few instances where the color design of some of the pages are too dark and having black text on top of that just adds to the problem of reading. I actually had to get under a bright light at times and tilt the book and read it at an angle just to get through a page. This is more work than I'd like to spend reading.

As for the images themselves, yearh, a lot of stuff that I have never seen before. What was fascinating was seeing the behind the scenes stuff of the band during their biggest years as a band when they were the most famous band on the planet. When every kid in America was trying to find out what they really looked like, we tended to forget that they are people too and have regular lives just like us.....minus the fame and glory and money of course. So, to see them as "ordinary" during this era was very cool. Since this book is written by Lydia Criss (Peter's Ex-Wife), it's really a journey through her eyes and what it was like to be married to not only the drummer, but in a way to the band as well. Lydia has a lot to say about her Ex and the book doesn't paint him in a flattering light. Years later he would pretty much say the same thing about himself in his own book. So, we know she isn't lying when throwing him under the bus. I like the book and I'd recommend this as a Rent for sure. But with that said, I do disagree with the notion that this is "better" than KISSTORY. I still prefer the former over the later for sure.